Dealing with conflicting and competing demands - a new trend in management
Introduction
Problems; they will always arise and are a certainty of life. Some problems may prove easy to solve, others may prove more complex.
Simple 'tame' problems: problems which have a known answer and are easy to work towards the goal: the solution.
Complex 'wicked' problems: some problems may prove complex in their aspects, perspectives or structures. The problem may have interacting variables (changing one variable will affect another) or there might be many aspects and/or perspectives of the problem.
Wicked problems may involve multiple perspectives which have contradicting goals. This means that whatever solution is chosen, neither party will achieve its full goal without the other losing everything. A solution will often be a compromise or an Alternative-Without-Solution. There is simply not one single solution.
Main Content (Alice Schofield, Charlotte Hall, Angela Choi and Michelle Stephens)
Paradoxes in Management
The key aspect of a management paradox is that it contains two equally valid, but contradictory viewpoints which need to be managed over time so that neither one is totally neglected. Examples include: Work-life balance, global-local balance and quality-cost management.
The importance of managing Paradoxes
The importance of managing paradoxes increases with the complexity of organisational environments. Organisational environments are more dynamic and uncertain due to increased globalisation, shorter product cycle time, intense competition, and high levels of interdependence across the value chain of organisations.
Paradoxes in context of management
Paradoxes are not solved, they must be effectively managed, this however is a challenge because natural instincts lead managers to apply problem solving techniques. The key to successful management of paradoxes is to find a balance between competing elements. For example, a company may be looking to expand into a new market,a manager may be given two conflicting ideas of how to best market to the new market from two different employees. To successfully manage paradoxes organisational leaders must learn to deal with contradictions and embrace incompatible forces, rather than choose between them.
__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JfQrv7w4nk__ - Wendy's research focuses on strategic paradoxes -- how leaders and senior teams manage commitments to contradictory agendas. She has explored how senior teams simultaneously explore new possibilities while exploiting existing competencies. She also explores how hybrid organisations, specifically social enterprises, manage social missions and financial goals simultaneously. Her research has been published in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Organisation Science, Management Science and Long Range Planning.
Paradoxes have gained pervasiveness in organisational settings for these main reasons:
The adoption of information technology has been seen as inherently paradoxical. E.g. email communication can be both informal and formal, it is an efficient and effective tool for management.
Environmental changes places increasingly contradictory demands on companies. E.g. computer industry. They want to have innovation rates whilst keeping costs low. They need to master the paradox bounded by the opposite poles of effectiveness and efficiency.
(Management and Organisation Paradoxes by Stewart R. Clegg)
Discussion
Conclusion
<<---- Below just as reminder; please edit ---->>
New
Concepts have been around for a while
BUT only in management research and practice since 1988.
Practice is starting to apply thinking, not yet standard
Trend
More research being carried out (references, citations)
Encouragement for practitioners to use
Not a fad
Management
A variety of management topics investigated pushing for a new way of thinking
----end---->>
Table of Contents
Introduction
Problems; they will always arise and are a certainty of life. Some problems may prove easy to solve, others may prove more complex.
Simple 'tame' problems: problems which have a known answer and are easy to work towards the goal: the solution.
Complex 'wicked' problems: some problems may prove complex in their aspects, perspectives or structures. The problem may have interacting variables (changing one variable will affect another) or there might be many aspects and/or perspectives of the problem.
Wicked problems may involve multiple perspectives which have contradicting goals. This means that whatever solution is chosen, neither party will achieve its full goal without the other losing everything. A solution will often be a compromise or an Alternative-Without-Solution. There is simply not one single solution.
Main Content (Alice Schofield, Charlotte Hall, Angela Choi and Michelle Stephens)
Paradoxes in Management
The key aspect of a management paradox is that it contains two equally valid, but contradictory viewpoints which need to be managed over time so that neither one is totally neglected.
Examples include: Work-life balance, global-local balance and quality-cost management.
The importance of managing Paradoxes
The importance of managing paradoxes increases with the complexity of organisational environments. Organisational environments are more dynamic and uncertain due to increased globalisation, shorter product cycle time, intense competition, and high levels of interdependence across the value chain of organisations.
Paradoxes in context of management
Paradoxes are not solved, they must be effectively managed, this however is a challenge because natural instincts lead managers to apply problem solving techniques. The key to successful management of paradoxes is to find a balance between competing elements. For example, a company may be looking to expand into a new market,a manager may be given two conflicting ideas of how to best market to the new market from two different employees. To successfully manage paradoxes organisational leaders must learn to deal with contradictions and embrace incompatible forces, rather than choose between them.
__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JfQrv7w4nk__ - Wendy's research focuses on strategic paradoxes -- how leaders and senior teams manage commitments to contradictory agendas. She has explored how senior teams simultaneously explore new possibilities while exploiting existing competencies. She also explores how hybrid organisations, specifically social enterprises, manage social missions and financial goals simultaneously. Her research has been published in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Organisation Science, Management Science and Long Range Planning.
Paradoxes have gained pervasiveness in organisational settings for these main reasons:
- The adoption of information technology has been seen as inherently paradoxical. E.g. email communication can be both informal and formal, it is an efficient and effective tool for management.
- Environmental changes places increasingly contradictory demands on companies. E.g. computer industry. They want to have innovation rates whilst keeping costs low. They need to master the paradox bounded by the opposite poles of effectiveness and efficiency.
(Management and Organisation Paradoxes by Stewart R. Clegg)Discussion
Conclusion
<<---- Below just as reminder; please edit ---->>New
Concepts have been around for a while
BUT only in management research and practice since 1988.
Practice is starting to apply thinking, not yet standard
Trend
More research being carried out (references, citations)
Encouragement for practitioners to use
Not a fad
Management
A variety of management topics investigated pushing for a new way of thinking
----end---->>